OP ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 
179 
China, whose name was given by botanists to two species of handsome Chinese trumpet-shaped flowers, now 
incorporated in the genera Tecoma and Bignonia. Father D’Incarville took the seeds of the China Asters from 
China to Paris in 1730, and in 1731 Miller received some seeds from the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, which he 
raised in the Botanic Garden at Chelsea. The first kinds introduced were the single red and the single white ; but 
the single blue, or rather purple, was obtained soon afterwards, and from these the numerous hybrids and varieties 
have been raised which decorate our gardens. The kinds called German Asters, like the German Stocks (see p. 
66, and p. 67), are merely hybrids and varieties raised in Germany ; and excellent German seeds may be had 
from Carter s, Holborn. The French are particularly fond of China Asters, and grow them to great perfection. 
Their name for the flower is la Heine Marguerite, which is supposed to mean simply the Queen Daisy, as the 
French name for the Daisy is Marguerite , given to it, as it is said, from the fondness of Margaret of Yalois for 
that common wild-flower. 
Culture.— China Asters are generally raised on a hotbed; and when wanted to flower finely, the young 
plants should be purchased of a nurseryman in May. When raised in the open ground, the seeds should be sown 
in a warm border early in April, and the plants pricked out towards the end of May, or sooner ; when they are 
about three inches high. In all cases, China Asters do best when transplanted; as, when left where they were 
sown, the flowers are generally poor. It is also not thought advisable to grow China Asters two years in 
succession on the same ground. When pricked out from the seed-bed, the young plants should be put into a bed 
of very rich soil, trenched at least a spade deep, and mixed with well-rotten dung from an old hotbed ; 
though some cultivators prefer ground that has been richly manured the previous season. The plants in this 
bed of rich earth, should be placed at least six inches or a foot apart from each other every way, and shaded and 
well watered after transplanting. When they are to be placed so as to produce an effect by their colours, in forming 
figures, &c., they are generally again transplanted, just as they have formed their flower-buds, sufficiently for 
the colour to be distinguished ; taking them up carefully with an instrument called a transplanter, used in removing 
tulips, so as not to break the balls of earth round the roots of each plant. Chalked string is then stretched over 
the beds, so as to form the figure required, and the Asters are carefully planted in stars, circles, letters, crescents, 
rainbows, &c., according to the fancy of the florist. We once saw in a French garden, purple Asters planted 
among white ones, so as to form a dark purple star on a white ground, which produced a very striking and 
beautiful effect. China Asters look very well on a bank planted in rows, one colour in each row ; or in rings of 
different colours round a circle; with the tallest plants in the centre, and the dwarf plants nearest the edge. 
2.—ASTER TENELLUS, Lin. THE SLENDER ASTER, OR DWARF ANNUAL MICHAELMAS DAISY. 
Synonymes. —Felicia tenella, Nees. and Dec. ; F. fragilis, Cass. ; 
Aster dentatus, Thun. ; Kaulfussia ciliata, Spreng. ; Cineraria 
tenella, Link. 
Engravings _Bot. Mag. t. 33. 
Specific Character. —Leaves linear, ciliated. Branches naked, 
bearing each a single head of flowers. 
Description, &c.— A very elegant little flower, which, though introduced so long back as 1769, has only 
lately become a favourite in our gardens. It is a native of North America, and was originally considered a 
greenhouse perennial; but it has been found to succeed quite well treated as a hardy annual, and as such the seed 
is now generally sold iii the seed-shops. The seeds should be sown in March, and the plants will not need any 
further culture. 
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